PFJ Third Thursdays, 2015-16

PFJ Third Thursdays, 2015-16


Thursday, January 21, 2016
“As Below, So Above: A Journey Through Hell As a Satire of Eighteenth Century Japanese Politics”
Alessandro Bianchi, Postdoctoral Fellow, Freer/Sackler Museums, Smithsonian Institute
4:30 – 6 p.m., Jaffe History of Art Building, room 113

In this presentation, Alessandro Bianchi will discuss an understudied work of comic fiction entitled Honzō mōmoku (1780?), which recounts the afterlife adventures of the knowledgeable, yet arrogant and crafty Haraga Bannai, and his encounter with the King of Hell, Enma. Despite the facetious tone of this work, Honzō mōmoku touches upon serious topics such as politics and economics, as well as alluding to sensational scandals. By looking at contemporaneous sources, both in print and manuscript forms, Bianchi will demonstrate how the fictional plot of Honzō mōmoku was in fact a clever camouflage concealing a sharp satire of eighteenth-century politics and society.


Thursday, Apr. 21, 2016
“Militarism or Democracy? : War preparation in 1920s Japan”
Yasuo Mori, Associate Professor, Doshisha University Faculty of Law
noon – 1:30 p.m., 209 College Hall

    WWI had a great effect on Japanese politics and society. Affected by anti-militarism in Europe, Japan boosted political democratization. Still, 1920s Japan has also been regarded as a prelude of militarism in 1930s. “Total war system” (Kokka Sodoin Taisei) that Japanese Army had laid out since WWI was seen as a milestone in the process to militarism. So, what is “Total War System”? Was it inevitably incompatible with democracy? Was it a specific system only to Japan? I compare war preparation in 1920s Japan to those in typical democratic countries, Britain and America to reexamine it from wider point of view.

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